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Joh_10:37-39. Your unbelief, which lies at the foundation of the judgment ὅτι βλασφημεῖς , would then be justifiable, if I were not, etc. In the other case, however, you ought to believe, if not me, at all events my works, in order that you, etc.
εἰ οὐ ποιῶ ] if I leave them undone. Comp. Buttm. Neut. Gr. p. 297 [E. T. p. 346]; Baeumlein, Partik. p. 278.
τὰ ἔργα τοῦ πατρ . μ .] which my Father works; compare on Joh_9:3, Joh_14:10, also Joh_10:23.
μὴ πιστ . μοι ] not merely permissive, but an actual command, as in the case of the following πιστεύετε (see the critical note). The alternative is decided: they ought not to believe Him, if, etc.
ἐμοί ] My person in and by itself, apart from the actual testimony borne to it by the ἔργα .
To believe the works, is to hold for true the testimony which is contained in them (Joh_5:36). The object of faith is that which Jesus declares concerning Himself, and what, in agreement therewith (comp. Joh_14:11), the works prove concerning Him. According to the reading ἵνα γνῶτε κ . γινώσκητε (see the critical note), which Hengstenberg, notwithstanding, rejects as giving an unbearable meaning, Jesus describes this as the end to be attained by His prescription: in order that ye may attain to knowledge, and may (permanently) know, etc.—drawing a distinction between the act and the state of knowledge. Compare ἐπιμεληθῆναι καὶ ἐπιμελεῖσθαι , Plat. Legg. viii. p. 849 B.
ὅτι ʼν ἐμοὶ ὁ πατ . κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ ] This now is the unity which He meant in Joh_10:30; not essential unity (old orthodox explanation of the περιχώρησις essentialis patris in filio et filii in patre, see Calovius), although it is metaphysically the fundamental condition, but dynamic unity: the Father lives and moves in Christ, who is His active organ, and again Christ is in the Father, so far as Christ in God is the power which determines the execution of the divine ἔργον . The thought that Christ has in God “the ground of His existence and working” (De Wette), lies far remote from the words κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ , because the relation of the clauses of the proposition must be equal. But this relation is nothing else than that of inner, active, reciprocal fellowship. In accordance therewith, the Father is in the Son, as in the executor of His work, as the Son is also in the Father, because Christ is the regulative and determining agens et movens of the work of redemption in the Father. Comp. the many Pauline passages which represent all the divine redemptive activity as taking place in Christ; e.g. Rom_8:39; Eph_1:3 ff.
Joh_10:39. οὖν ] In consequence of this defence, which averted the threatened tumultuous stoning, for which the Jews had begun to prepare themselves. The supposition that πιάσαι denotes laying hold of with a view to carrying out the stoning, is opposed by the πάλιν , which refers back to Joh_7:30; Joh_7:32; Joh_7:44 (against Calvin, Luthardt, Hengstenberg).
καὶ ἐξῆλθεν , etc.] And yet they were unable to carry their plan into execution; He escaped out of their hands, which are conceived as already stretched out after Him. How this deliverance was effected must be left undetermined. (Kuinoel: by the arrival of His adherents; Hengstenberg: by the indecision of His enemies); of any miraculous element (e.g. becoming invisible) in His escape, although assumed by many early commentators, and even yet by B. Crusius and Luthardt, John gives no hint. Comp. on Joh_8:59. Euth. Zigabenus: ἀναχωρεῖ διὰ τὸν θυμὸν τῶν φθονερῶν , ἐνδιδοὺς αὐτῷ λωφῆσαι καὶ λῆξαι τῇ ἀπουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ .